Community Tasting Notes 121

• IAmVintage wrote: 93 points

  April 11, 2024 - Outstanding Zin that's loving it's age. Great deep dark unctuous fruit (not over done!) with plenty of character and longggg finish.

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• dsimmons Likes this wine: 92 points

  September 16, 2023 - Nice zin drunk with baby babyback ribs.

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• rocknroller wrote: 92 points

  August 5, 2023 - Siggy's Annual BBQ (Chez Siggy & Jenny's Place, Mpls, MN): Small taste. I thought this was in a good place. Elegant and pretty fruits, ripe red and deeper berries, plush tannins, tar, minerals. Love this with the age and old vine depth; this is my kind of Zin. Same bottle as Bellissimo.

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• Bellissimo wrote:

  August 5, 2023 - BBQ dinner with friends. This didn't get a lot of lover or attention so I brought home the remaining 2/3 bottle and finished with family later in the evening. 3-4 hours of air by this time.
  
  Last tasted 6+ years ago this is a lovely Zin. We don't drink as many Zins as we used to so this was like visiting an old friend. Blue and black fruits, mild pepper, great balance, lingering smooth finish. No sense of the 15.7 ABV and a fantastic sub $25 purchase back in the day.

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• J @ y H @ c k Likes this wine: 96 points

  May 26, 2023 - If you do not like long TN's with stories, skip this one because first I have to set the context. I have been buying Carlisle since the 2004 vintage. I used to buy 4 cases with each order, but I have slowed down a bit. I have probably owned well over 500 bottles. Adding those that were bought by others and brought to various dinners over the years, I have probably drunk over 300 bottles. Mike Officer would argue that I do not drink them fast enough, but what does he know. He just makes them.
  
  My favorite has always been Montafi Ranch. Even as my purchases have slowed down as I approach the other side of my own drinking curve, I was sure to buy those. I once wrote, after drinking a wine blind, "This is a great Zin. My guess is not mountain fruit. The only Zin I have had that was this good in Carlisle Montafi Ranch." It was a 2011 Montafi Ranch.
  
  My wife told my son that she wanted wine with dinner, but he forgot to get a bottle until about 6:30. He rushed downstairs and randomly pulled this to decant it before our nightly war with Jeopardy. I am reducing wine consumption, so I poured myself a large glass but did not finish it with dinner. I brought the remaining 2 ounces upstairs as I worked on my computer. At about 11:30 pm, I decided to finish it.
  
  OMG. This wine is incredible after 5 hours of air. There is a fruit explosion of raspberries and blackberries with spice and garrigue, with sagebrush (we just got back from Santa Fe) and rosemary. BUT that was not the most notable component. The aromatics and palate included the unmistakable sweet aroma and flavors of a top of the line XO Cognac. I once commented that I noticed that same in a much higher priced bottle of 2006 Bodegas Alto Moncayo Aquilon (saved from Alzheimers by Cellartracker again) and Brian Loring suggested that it was caused by American oak used by some Spanish wineries. Maybe, maybe not, but I have been in the Carlisle barrel room and I saw lots of Tarransaud by no American oak. AND this was sweeter and headier (in a non-alcoholic sense) than the Aquilon. Everting was woven together into an exceptional taste experience.
  
  It takes me a lot to give a wine more than 95 points. I have written over 1250 tasting notes and scores over 95 points represent only 3.5% of the total, and include the likes of 1875 Madeira, Pichler Unendlicht (if you've never had that, get a bottle and give it 2 hours of air), 1970 Monfortino, 1994 Fonseca, 1997 Q do Noval Nacional, 1955 Graham's, a few SQNs and Aubert whites, and 1962 Delas Freres Hermitage. That's pretty good company for a wine that I suspect cost me less than $30.
  
  Congratulations to Mike Officer and his team.

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Pro Reviews 1

Wine Definition

• Vintage 2013
• Type Red
• Producer Carlisle
• Varietal Zinfandel
• Designation Old Vines
• Vineyard n/a
• Country USA
• Region California
• SubRegion Sonoma County
• Appellation Russian River Valley

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 5 (0%)
• In Cellars 409 (23%)
• Consumed 1,374 (77%)

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